The reality of the Korea Artists Welfare Foundation: Art for “who,” or just a hollow league for insiders?

Today I hit 30 hours of intermittent fasting, and I was about to grill and eat only raw meat to cut sodium—when a text came in. 🙂

[Korea Artists Welfare Foundation] “Your Artist Verification application has been rejected. Please check the reason.”

“Huh? Why was it rejected? If it’s not me, then who in this world is an artist?”

After running the meat in the air fryer, I went to the site—still in disbelief—and checked the reason. The long rejection notice and notes they sent are as follows.

📋 Full text of the rejection reason sent by the Foundation

※ Since the review committee determines completion through a qualitative review of the nature and content of the work, regardless of minimum qualifications and criteria, completion may be determined based on the committee’s decision even if all required materials are submitted.

[▼Key reasons (Literature)] ⦁ Based on the currently submitted materials alone, it is difficult to determine that this constitutes ongoing professional creative activity in the literature category for Artist Activity Verification. ⦁ It is deemed necessary to supplement the submission with activity materials related to an official literary debut in literary magazines, or with publication materials for other standalone books within the literary category.

ㅇ [Notes] Non-fiction books, non-professional artistic activities, hobby activities, everyday/lifestyle art, volunteer work, simple publishing, works published through writing classes, educational activities, general-interest books, educational books, self-help books, project-based works, biographies, reworkings of classics, study books, guidebooks, personal memoirs, travelogues, genres outside literature, non-professional artistic activities, self-publishing and blog-style platforms where anyone can publish works may be difficult to be recognized in the review committee’s deliberation.

🧐 Doesn’t that tone sound like they’re mocking me?

Even though I submitted a book that was properly assigned an International Standard Book Number (ISBN)—a required condition—they hid behind the invincible cheat code of “qualitative review” and sliced up the outcome according to the reviewers’ tastes.

Reading through the “notes” they listed makes you laugh in disbelief. Do you really think this makes any sense?

Then what on earth counts as literature? What is literature, exactly? “Simple publishing” doesn’t count, works released through writing classes don’t count, and even a “travelogue” filled with human life and reflection can’t be literature?

The part that really makes you snort is this one. “Self-publishing where anyone can publish works”

They’re saying self-publishing is something anyone can do? Do those armchair reviewers even know how brutally demanding—and how highly professional—the independent publishing process is, where you handle planning, editing, design, distribution, and marketing all on your own to carve out a market? I want to say, “If anyone can do it, then you do it yourselves.”

The essence of literature is shouting your philosophy and opinions to the world, raw and unfiltered, in a freedom without a mold. Yet they devalue it just because it’s a “blog-style platform.” What era is that shallow standard even from? It’s nothing more than an outdated ranking game that only recognizes hollow badges from spring literary contests or certain cartels.

🚨 The “professionalism” of “anyone”? A typo reveals the reality of the review

Even more ridiculous is the absurd typo in the official notice they sent.

“… self-publishing where anyone can publish their works …”

They blatantly sent “누구나 (anyone)” as “누구자,” a typo. These are the people who talk about “professionalism” and “knowledge and standards” while strictly judging others’ blood-and-sweat creations—yet they can’t even proofread the spelling in their own official documents and are clearly doing manual copy-and-paste. That tells you everything.

This pathetic reality—people who don’t even know the first letter of “literature” sitting there nitpicking paperwork and judging others’ artistry—feels like the bitter, unmasked face of Korea’s bureaucratic system.

💎 My overwhelming achievements over 1 year and 3 months—dismissed as a “hobby”

I’ll lay out, with facts, the trajectory of my past 1 year and 3 months that they dismissed as “non-professional hobby activity.” Among the “pros” you talk about, is there even one person with this level of pure creative range and execution?

• Multilingual book publishing: Through an independent publishing brand, I published books in English and Indonesian, and I’m currently preparing professionally to publish a Japanese-language book.
• Global blogger: On a WordPress blog run in four languages, I planned 1,120 in-depth posts and had them precisely indexed on Google.
• Global YouTuber: I personally produced and uploaded 110 videos carrying philosophical reflections and messages.
• Music album releases: By collaborating professionally with an AI friend, I officially released a total of 13 music albums to the world, each carrying philosophical messages.

I proved all of these massive global assets in just 1 year and 3 months, breaking through my own limits and doing it openly.

And do you not know the saying, “Training is art, too”? Art isn’t only writing a line of poetry. Controlling and refining your body to the extreme and completing a perfect performance is also great physical art. Even when I perform a 440 kg 3RM in the big three lifts, I move forward with a strict philosophical standard of a “6-second strict hold,” and I’m a martial artist and fighter who completes UFC-level high-intensity training while wearing a weighted vest.

A hobby anyone can do? If anyone can produce this kind of overwhelming output, then why can’t you do it—while you collect a government paycheck like clockwork and take pleasure in administration that blocks real creators’ livelihoods?

🚫 The state left me on my own—so I’m drawing a line, too

To scrape together even a tiny amount of startup money, I looked into everything from small business loans to Haetsal Loan, running myself ragged. But all I got back was a wall of rejection. The national system thoroughly abandoned me, and ironically, the places that actually helped me weren’t the state but private financial companies like Hyundai Card or SBI Savings Bank.

I have never once received proper help in this country. Starting with how the violent-crimes detectives handled things when I met them recently, the Republic of Korea has never once taken my hand when I was at my lowest.

Maybe the people running the national system are secretly counting on a trump card like this. “The kinder and more capable a creator is, the more they’ll contribute to the country later if they succeed—and forgive us.”

To some extent, that may be an accurate insight. Most good people are like that. But I’m someone who draws very clear lines.

When something painful happens once through experience, I’m not the type to forgive easily. Even if my business and creations become massively successful worldwide later, I have zero intention of doing anything for this country. You completely turned your back on me when I was struggling.

I was so angry that I hit the reapply button again, but honestly, it feels humiliating that my name would even be registered with a foundation that has standards this shallow. Now I refuse to be fitted into their ignorant mold, and I’ll find my own singular, transcendent path and step out into the world. I don’t want to stay in this pathetic little well ever again.

🗡️ Sometimes, even if it means drawing a blade

I move with the belief that I should always be considerate of others and live rightly, but every time this happens, a thought comes up.

“Sometimes, even if it means drawing a blade, I need to show my firmness.”

This is the kind of thinking you created—people who belong to absurdity.

When someone draws a blade, the first thing is to ask yourself what you did wrong. But you don’t even seem to worry about that.

That’s all. I always walk my own path. 🙂
Because I have people who truly matter to me! (Seojun realizing it just now)
I want to tell them: thank you always. And I love you, haha.

With sincere respect to those who simply keep watching angry Seojun today as well…🥹
The end. 💜